Beijing to control the weather?
2007-07-17 10:53
Beijing - Weathermen in Beijing are going ahead with plans to fire rockets to disperse rain clouds, an experiment aimed at guaranteeing sunshine at next year's Olympics.
Zheng Guoguang, head of China's Meteorological Administration, said practice drills were ready to begin, the state-run China Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Zheng said the drills will simulate what will be done when the Games open August 8, 2008. He said this summer was the last chance for meteorologists to practice under similar weather conditions.
Chinese officials have said historical records show there's a 50% chance of rain for the August 8, 2008, opening ceremony - and the same probability of rain during the closing ceremony.
Last month a top-ranking weather official acknowledged that seeding clouds to produce rain - or dispersing rainmaking clouds - was immature technology.
"Dispersal is more difficult than rainfall enhancement," said Wang Yubin, assistant chief engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. "In rainfall dispersal, we are still in the experimental stage but we are continuing our efforts."
China has tinkered with artificial rainmaking for decades, though the technology has been questioned.
- AP